Duty
by Apollymi
Summary: 6th in my EnvyPride!Ed story series. Where are lines drawn, between family and lovers, between inhuman and human... between Pride and Ed? Bluebird's Illusion, EnvyPride!Ed


**Author:** Eternal SailorM  
**Series:** Fullmetal Alchemist - Bluebird's Illusion  
**Genre:** Dark-ish, continuation, shounen-ai  
**Topic(s)/Theme(s):** "The Duty of Siblings"  
**Pairing(s):** Envy/Pride  
**Archive:** DarkMagick (dot) net, Eternal Sailorm (dot) net  
**Short Disclaimer:** I own nothing, unfortunately.  
**Word Count: **819

* * *

Sometimes he could almost forget that they were siblings. Well, half-siblings, but it didn't really count, not when there were four hundred-odd years and a few attempted murders between them. Sometimes it seemed like the only things they had in common were a shared resurrectionist, who happened to have provided half of each of their genes, and the ability to cause mass destruction.

But sometimes it was a little harder to forget, like when he came home from one of Father's "missions" a little bloodied (though little of it was actually his and what was his was from wounds long since healed) and Pride went into a quietly overprotective fuss, which generally included a lot of head shaking, almost stern looks, and a few heavy sighs. The blond might be a few centuries younger than him, but he'd lost none of his overreactive elder brother traits that had to have surely nearly driven the youngest Elric out of his mind. Envy had to wonder sometimes if he'd always been like that or if everything that had happened to him in the pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone had turned him this way. Either of those he wouldn't doubt in the least, given the blond's predilection for - what was the term? - motherhenning.

Who knew how the other thought, after all? Not him, that was for sure. Sometimes, just occasionally, he wondered what went on in that mind of his, but asking, as had been proven, only led to more blank than normal expressions, with the confused tilted head tossed in from time to time for good measure, which was almost as annoying as the damned sighing.

Barely managing to hold back a growl, he swatted at the other's hands as they continued to seek out any spot that might be injured. "I'm not hurt! Even if I had been, it would be healed by now!" he ground out.

Large golden eyes stared at him for a long moment. "...you're sure?" he finally got out after what felt like a short eternity or three.

"Of course I'm sure. Don't be more stupid than normal."

Pride just looked at him for several long minutes, like if he waited long enough, Envy would cave and admit being hurt. Finally another sigh escaped him. "Then it's... someone else's blood?"

"Yeah." The blond opened his mouth, and he could just _see_ what was about to come out. "Yes, I'm sure."

"...really sure?" He had to gape. It really wasn't like Pride to push matter so; that was more of an Edward-thing, after all. "They... might have..."

There was a voice laughing in the back of his head - that happened to sound rather like Lust - laughing as he half-sighed and half-growled. "I'm perfectly all right, Pride. Every drop of blood on me belongs to someone else." Sometimes it was just easier to coddle the blond and appease his hyperactive 'elder' sibling instincts, even if sometimes it made him feel ill.

Without prompting, for once, Pride sat down straddling him, arms coming around his body in what he'd heard described as a 'hug' before. He wasn't too sure he liked it; it made something inside him tighten in a way that had little to do with arousal and nothing to do with reshaping his body. "I... don't want... anything to happen to you... Envy. I... don't want... to lose you..." there was a long pause, long even for Pride's halting speech patterns "...too."

There was that weird twisting sensation again, sharper this time. However, he chose to ignore it for the moment, tend to the other homunculus, and mention it to Father if needs be later. He caught the blond by the high neck of his shirt and maneuvered him where he wanted him. "I'm not going anywhere. What's the fun in that, _o-chibi-san_?" Was that a faint twitch of a frown or a trick of the fading light? Later. "We're stuck together for a while yet."

"...I'm... glad... to hear that... Envy." That was certainly a near beginning to a smile or perhaps even a grin there.

If the remnants of Edward were indeed reemerging from Pride, this could spell out worlds of trouble for all of them, not in the least of which being himself and Father. Perhaps this did bear passing on, but not just yet. He wanted to see where it went first. Pride was his, after all, his lover and his brother, so it was only right that he pursued this matter first himself before turning it over to Hohenheim. No sense letting all his time spent on the other go to waste.

And it had nothing to do with large golden eyes that were starting to sparkle a bit more than they had been, or little speeches that were starting to get a little longer, or that nebulous twisting in his gut. None of that mattered at all.

* * *

29 November 2005

Well, well, look who's back? Yep, you can't get rid of me!

After noticing that so many people have the previous stories on story update alert, I decided it might be time to start tackling something a little more multi-part-like, for better or worse. We'll see what happens. I don't promise frequent or long updates; this one is already my longest FMA:BBI story, at double the length of my previous stories.


End file.
